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Secondary more like sieve
Washington's porous pass defense didn't live up to the billing its members touted in the preseason.
Date published: 9/13/2006
By ADAM HIMMELSBACH LANDOVER, Md.--Redskins backup safety Pierson Prioleau sat on a small folding chair in the team locker room late Monday night, his right knee in a brace. Prioleau had torn his ACL on the opening kickoff of Washington's 19-16 loss to the Minnesota Vikings at FedEx Field. "This is a professional organization and we're professional athletes," said Prioleau, who will miss the remainder of the season. "When a guy goes down, somebody has to be ready to step up and take on the responsibility." Prioleau was not just speaking about his own absence. Starting cornerback Shawn Springs has been sidelined since undergoing abdominal surgery in mid-August, forcing the Redskins to go with something of a patchwork secondary. And with less-than-overwhelming Brad Johnson at quarterback and a group of also-rans at wide receiver, the Vikings picked that secondary apart on Monday night, shedding light on what has undoubtedly become Washington's greatest concern as this season pushes forward. "We really wanted to show everyone what we had," said cornerback Carlos Rogers. Instead, the unit was exposed. Johnson completed 16 of 30 passes for 223 yards with one touchdown and no interceptions. The Vikings converted on 9 of 17 third-down tries. And all these numbers could have been worse if Vikings receiver Troy Williamson had not botched a handful of catches. "Anytime a team's not getting off the field on third down, it's giving the offense more opportunities to score," cornerback Kenny Wright said. "We just have to look at what we're doing, and I'm pretty sure everything is correctable." Prioleau's injury set the dour tone for the night, and things never improved. Because of Springs' injury, Wright and Mike Rumph played more than they normally would, and neither played especially well. Safety Sean Taylor met his usual quota for jaw-rattling hits, but also picked up a pair of fourth-quarter penalties. And Rogers was outrun by receivers several times, one of which resulted in a Minnesota touchdown. "Teams come in with their game plan," Rogers said. "When Shawn was here last year, we had balls going at us until we stopped teams and made plays on the passes they were trying. That's the only way we're going to stop them from coming at us this year."
Date published: 9/13/2006
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